by EA Hooper
Noah’s blade met with the hero’s. They clashed several times in a single second, both moving with superhuman speed. Noah was slightly faster, and his Perception let him follow the enemy’s movements well enough, but he gave the man a fighting chance. Breaker magic flew from the man’s blade, cracking more of Noah’s bones and destroying nearby buildings.
“You think you can challenge me, hero?” Noah questioned, overpowering the man. He broke through his guard and cut through the man’s armor, leaving a minor wound.
Noah heard quick footsteps approaching and raised his blade to block the wolf-helmed man he’d seen earlier. He stepped back, moving closer to his remaining devils as he blocked ferocious strikes from the man.
Good, good! Push harder. Fight like it means something!
Noah saw an opening and slashed his opponent across the chest. He took control of Lemm and had the devil throw a fireball at the ground between the two heroes. The explosion knocked them both aside, but the two men jumped quickly to their feet, still prepared to fight.
Noah shot the ground before them with two Mana Cannons, kicking dirt into the air. He felt his mana restoring as Belva blew him another glowing heart, but then he heard her gasp. When Noah turned, he found a player had stabbed her between the ribs with a Breaker-charged rapier.
“Devil scum,” the rapier-wielding woman said, slashing open Belva’s throat to finish the monster.
Lemm waved his hand at the approaching group, sending out a wave of green flames. Whenever the flames touched something solid, they crackled with small explosions that knocked back several players at once.
One heavily armored man charged through the flames. He wielded a massive greatsword covered by a swirling vortex of wind. When his blade met Devil’s Due, the whirlwind exploded outward, almost as if a tornado had leapt out from the edge of his blade. The attack sent Noah sliding several meters back, but it tossed his two remaining devils across the street.
Noah noticed the man’s whirlwind took a few seconds to recharge around the blade, so he equipped a basteel axe and hurled it at his opponent. The blade stuck between the man’s shoulder and neck, spraying out blood that was sucked into his own vortex. A terrified gasp escaped his lips as he dropped his sword, and he grabbed the handle of the axe lodged into his body as he stumbled. Another player caught him when he fell to the ground, then they cast Revive the moment the light left his eyes.
Lemm and Xib hurried back to their master’s side as the two groups of players created walls that blocked both ends of the street. Under his helm, Noah couldn’t help but smile as he looked over the crowd’s fierce expressions. Every one of them looked ready to fight to the end, even several he’d injured.
But this is just the easy part. A little test before the real war. I ought to give them a warning that will make them want to train and prepare.
“Heroes!” Noah said with as disgusted a tone as he could muster. “You’ve beaten me on this day, but this is not the end. The Demon Lord shall have this city. You will all suffer like you’ve never imagined. Prepare yourself, for my army shall take everything from you!”
“I’d like to see you try, bastard!” one man shouted, shooting a huge basteel-tipped arrow at the Demon Lord.
Negation Shield vaporized most of the arrow before it reached him, but he noticed a shard of basteel survived and embedded in his armor. Many of the other players raised swords, spears, axes, and hammers to charge him. Before they could, he took control of Xib and had the devil open a portal for just a second. Noah dropped through the vortex, and it closed behind him, leaving his devils to die.
Noah landed beside his outpost and removed his helm. He could only imagine how the smile on his face looked. His heart pounded in a way he hadn’t felt in years, and when he looked down at his hands, he noticed they had a slight tremble.
What a challenge! Why didn’t I think of this sooner? This will push me to my limits just as much as it pushes them. I’ll need to develop stronger spells. Preferably ones that let me fight numerous people at once. Maybe a larger version of Flatten? It’d cost a lot of mana, but if I have Belva and some other charming devils with me, they can refill my mana reserves faster than potions would.
His mind raced with potential strategies, but then his eyes turned to the outpost. I can’t keep warping back to this same location. If anyone sees me here, they might get ideas of who I am. Before the war starts, I’ll build a few platforms around Lavrin and bury them. That ought to count as property I can warp to. Then I’ll have an almost constant supply of hell ants. All those people on Risegard better prepare themselves—this is going to be a long war.
Chapter 17 | Year 93
Player: Vincent the Wanderer
Location: Styxis (World) | Risegard (City) | Derelict Market (District)
Class: Ranger
Subclass: Mage
Vitality: Lv 186
Spirit*: Lv 195
Resolve: Lv 178
Perception*: Lv 201
Agility: Lv 186
Strength: Lv 185
Vincent approached the entrance of Juniper’s shop. He’d already told Quinn and Xan he’d left the Inner Sanctum, but they’d responded that it might take a while since they’d found themselves on the opposite side of the city while searching for bounties. Vincent planned to use the free time to check out Juniper’s forge.
Vincent waved to Juniper as he stepped inside. “Hello again! I talked things over with Isaac, but I need to pay off part of my friend’s debt before he’ll run a pipeline to your shop. I’ll try to have it done quickly—I just need to see what kind of bounties my friends find.”
“Bounties, huh?” Juniper questioned. “You should find plenty of them in this city. I know the Boss Hunters and Forlorn Assassins chase bounties during the off weeks between attacks, so keep an eye out for them on the Dead-Worlds. They get very competitive and aren’t afraid to cut the throats of people chasing the same quests, though. Those two guilds almost act like they have a monopoly on bounties in Risegard.”
“I would’ve thought people would be more united by this war,” Vincent replied.
“Oh, they were at first,” Juniper replied. “The first few years of the war were exciting. There was always a constant back and forth between our side and the devils. They’d wreck everything and push us to our breaking point. Then, we’d make a miraculous comeback, devastate the Demon Lord’s forces in multiple back-to-back victories. Man, those days were exciting. The only problem was that the stronger we got, the more brutal the Demon Lord became. It’s almost like he got stronger, too, weirdly enough. He hit us with more devastating spells and started targeting key points in the city’s defenses. Then he gave us less and less time to rebuild.”
“My god,” Vincent said. “I’d heard it was bad, but I’m surprised anyone still hangs around if it’s been like that for decades.”
“For a long time, people didn’t want to climb back down because of that Lucas fella,” Juniper said. “We became reliant on Iijin Industries and their drone knights. Just about everyone in this city owes him a debt of some sort, and he’ll hire the Forlorn Assassins to drag you back if you leave for lower worlds.”
“I guess he’s not as reasonable as I thought,” Vincent said.
“He’s not a bad guy,” Juniper replied. “However, Isaac doesn’t see things the same way as most people. He almost acts like he’s doing you a favor by keeping you on the frontlines of this war. One time, I told him I might leave Risegard and that set him off on a weird rant, asking me if I had meaning in my life. I told him I just like making weapons and armor. My craft gives me purpose. He never gave me any problems after that conversation—even freed me from the debt I owed after renting drones to rebuild my shop.”
“So why didn’t you leave Risegard?” Vincent asked.
“I ask myself that whenever the war gets really bad,” she replied. “My forge here is the best I’ve ever had, but I could make one comparable to it given enough time and resources.
However, the people here rely on me. I keep telling myself if I can make even better armor and weapons, then maybe they’ll beat that Demon Lord so badly he’ll never return. There have been a couple times where that looked like it was the case. We didn’t see him for an entire year one time, then he came back with a greater army. He decimated the Outer Sanctum, and it’s been a constant uphill battle since then to keep rebuilding.”
“I see,” Vincent said. “So that’s why you want those skyglass swords. You get those in the hands of twelve strong players, and they’ll be able to cut through his henchmen with ease.”
“That’s right,” she replied. “The Demon Lord’s armor too. He always wears basteel, which is getting harder and harder to come by. Those two guilds I mentioned have basteel mines on Elfry and Grayvere, but claim they’re running dry. Personally, I think they’re just waiting for resources to move into the city, so they can sell the stuff at higher prices. The only way to get basteel now is through alchemy, but it’s a slow and expensive process.”
“Aren’t there other locations to mine basteel?” Vincent asked.
“Like I said, those two guilds get very competitive,” Juniper said. “It doesn’t help that Iijin Industries has the only large-scale basteel refinery in the city. However, Isaac has an exclusive deal with the same two guilds.”
Vincent shook his head. “Talk about stacking the cards in your own favor. No wonder Isaac seemed hopeful I wouldn’t stick around long. With my team’s abilities, we might shake up the little monopoly between those three guilds.”
Juniper smiled, staring off in thought. “You know, shaking up things around here isn’t such a bad idea. Once we have that world magic pipeline, I might be able to add an underground refinery to my forge. I won’t be able to do full suits of armor, but I’d bet I can pump out a short sword a week if I had basteel.”
“Which we can’t get,” Vincent noted.
“No, no, there was something I overlooked,” she said. “Those two guilds avoid Lavrin like the plague. It’s too dangerous for them, but that also means it’s an untouched treasure trove of basteel. If your guild spared enough people to restore the Great Vanguard’s old outpost and find good mining spots, I could work out a deal with you—maybe even join your guild. The only problem is all of that will take months.”
“It might not,” Vincent said.
“Why’s that?” Juniper asked.
“Take me to your forge, and I’ll show you,” he replied.
Juniper raised an eyebrow, but then waved him over to part of the floor with runes running across it. She tapped on the floor with her foot, and that section of stone opened, revealing a marstone staircase. They followed it underground about thirty meters to a large chamber that put Vincent’s Eramar forge to shame. His eyes widened at the intricate patterns of runes covering the marstone walls, the various hammers and slabs, and the different types of furnaces, cooling tanks, and equipment that made him feel like a caveman walking into a computer store.
“This is amazing!” Vincent said, eyeing every tool and rune. After almost a minute of gawking, he finally remembered why he’d asked to go down there. “Oh, which direction would you build your refinery? That wall there?”
“No, no, that’d connect to Hollifer’s dungeon,” she said. “If I build that way, I might accidentally release the monsters she captured for training. I’d prefer to go down another level, so I wouldn’t have to use marstone to reinforce it.”
Vincent equipped his Builder’s Tome, imagined another staircase descending into an open room, then paid the points. The ground dissolved and shaped into a floor just like he’d pictured it in his head.
“What the hell is that?” Juniper asked, her eyes wide.
“Builder’s Tome,” Vincent replied. “If I feed it alchemic materials, I can use it for construction.”
She stared with disbelief. “How much did it cost to make that room?”
“That probably cost the equivalent of a few hundred gild.”
“This changes everything!”
“I know. I’ll be able to quickly restore the outpost and set up a mine.”
“No, not that. I mean, yeah, that’ll be useful. However, right now Isaac has a monopoly on construction. His drone knights work faster and more efficiently than players, so people rent them from him all the time. If you can do the same thing faster and cheaper, we can undercut him.”
“We?” Vincent said, smirking. “You haven’t technically joined our guild yet.” He held out his hand to send Juniper a friend invite, then gave her one of the leaflets he always carried to let players sign up for the Jiminy World Crickets.
Juniper accepted the friend request before applying through the leaflet. It only took a few seconds for Vincent to check the guild page on his HUD to accept her.
“Woo!” Juniper shouted, raising a fist into the air. “This is fantastic. I don’t even know where to begin now. Do you mind if I act as your manager? I’ll make sure you don’t get cheated on contracts.”
“You do realize any profits I make have to go to Jim’s debt first, right?” Vincent asked.
“That’s fine, I care more about changing things around here than profit,” she said. “We can finally rebuild this city faster than the Demon Lord can destroy it. Here, I’ll write up another contract.” She pulled a leaflet from her inventory and marked across it.
“You really need to set up a quest contract when we’re in the same guild?” Vincent asked.
“It’s mainly to give me permission to write build orders on your behalf,” Juniper replied. “Besides, the game gives you a challenge bonus while you’re doing quests.”
“Huh, I didn’t know that,” Vincent said.
“In the beta, you could check out challenge ratings and XP bonuses on your HUD,” Juniper told him. “ARKUS removed a lot of options from the menus when the game went live to make it feel more like a real fantasy world. There’s lots of stuff that gives you challenge-rating bonuses.”
“Like the higher gravity of Dead-Worlds,” Vincent said. “I noticed that while leveling on Eramar.”
“You also get bonuses for fighting multiple enemies at once, essentially increasing the bonus of each monster by a little,” Juniper told him. “Quests offer smaller bonuses, but they add up over time. However, you can’t just make up quests left and right for no reason. The game reads your intentions. The stronger the intent behind the quest, the better the bonus. Fighting while injured gives a small bonus—while critically injured even more so. Defending another player from harm gives a hero bonus. Fighting alongside a close friend gives a brotherhood bonus.” She handed Vincent a leaflet.
Rebuilding Risegard (Contract Quest) – Hammer Queen Juniper wants to rebuild the city of Risegard, so that it may better stand against the Demon Lord. She’s asking for permission to make building contracts on your behalf. In addition, you’ll need to fix up the outpost on Lavrin and establish a mining operation. If you agree to provide the resources, Juniper will outfit members of the Jiminy World Crickets with better weapons and armor. Do You Accept? (Yes/No)
Vincent agreed to the quest right away.
“While you do those bounties, I’ll talk to people I know that are struggling to gather money to rent drones,” Juniper told him. “We’ll offer your services as cheaply as possible, and you can keep the small profit for Jim’s debt. Oh, and feel free to use my forge whenever you like.”
“I think I’m good on equipment right now,” Vincent replied.
“My forge can do more than just make weapons,” Juniper said with a smile. “You testing any new spells?”
“I’m working on upgrading a few things. There is one thing in particular I wanted to take another crack at. I’m sure you’ve heard about my void spells. Well, I’ve tried to combine fire with void, but it only worked with an ember spell. I got a new item to help me with fire frequencies, however.”
Vincent swapped his Builder’s Tome for his Frequency Tuning Fork, then channeled heat into
it until it glowed red hot.
Fire Frequency – 41%
“Wow, even worse than the last time I tried,” Vincent said, disappointedly.
Juniper smiled. “Stand closer to the center of the room,” she said, waving her hand to activate the runes on the wall.
Vincent followed her instructions, and he could feel the frequencies of the runes growing stronger and hotter until it drowned out the feeling of the fire at his fingertips.
Fire Frequency – 0%
“Anti-magic runes?” Vincent questioned. “That won’t help me.”
“It’s not completely anti-magic,” Juniper corrected. “It just requires a lot more effort and concentration. If you can feel it under these conditions, it’ll improve your overall control. You can tweak the settings, too—this is only the first level.”
Vincent concentrated on the tuning fork again. He imagined it growing hotter and redder, but he couldn’t feel the frequencies. I’m trying too hard, he told himself, trying to relax his body. He tried to recall the feeling of the fire at his fingertips from before the runes activated. The image of a growing fire appeared in his mind, and the tuning fork started to feel warm.
Fire Frequency – 1%
“I got something!” Vincent cheered.
Juniper waved her hand, turning off the runes in an instant. Within seconds, the tuning fork was red hot again and fuming with smoke.
Fire Frequency – 44%
“Hey, I scored higher,” Vincent noted.
“Useful, huh?” Juniper said. “So, what kind of fire attack are you trying to combine with negative energy?”
Vincent paused, thinking of the fire spell he’d learned decades ago on Eramar, but almost never used. He raised his hand and cast Flame Wave at the nearby marstone wall. “It was that one, but every time I tried, it turned into embers. So, I made an ember spell and used that instead. Someone gave me the advice to start with a bigger fire, but I don’t have a good spell yet.”
